神聖之所 Shrine

Matt Chun (with Miro Jones)

澳大利亞 Australia

年份 | Year
2018

地點 | Location
月池教室
Moon Pond Classroom

材料 | Material
土、竹、現地自然素材
Clay, bamboo, natural materials collected on-site

理念 | Statement
這次創作，我延續了2016年參與關渡國際自然藝術季時對於材料與過程的探索，並結合2017年在竹圍工作室駐村所發展出的概念基礎。

這件裝置的外型是一處抽象性的神聖場所或祈願空間、一處許多小物件聚集所在。使用的材料都僅是現地自然環境中所收集。

我對於神聖場所做為一種中介公共空間很感興趣。這種中介空間經常座落在構築的與自然的環境之間，表面上來看就像介於人類與超自然領域、一種如同將有形與抽象世界聯繫起來的脆弱媒介。更重要地，我對於這樣一處專屬故事與符號、共享敘事空間的功能也特別感興趣。

這件作品還有一個重要意義，就是它是由我七歲的兒子米羅與我共同完成。聚集在我們這處神聖場所的種種故事，當中的人物與符號都是我們倆彼此透過玩耍所創造出來。這是我們回應今年藝術季「從此過著幸福快樂日子」這個主題的方式，這句話是許多童話的結語，喚起一種簡單敘事和民間故事的傳誦。

During this residency, I will continue to explore the materials and processes that I developed at Guandu International Nature Art Festival in 2016, combined with the conceptual bases that I developed in 2017 while working from Bamboo Curtain Studio.

The installation will suggest the form of an abstracted shrine or votive space, a repository for an aggregation of small objects. These will be made exclusively from materials gathered from the immediate natural environment of the installation site.

I’m interested in the function of a shrine as a piece of liminal public space, frequently sited between built and natural environments, and, ostensibly, between human and metaphysical realms; a fragile medium connecting the tangible to the abstract. Importantly, I am interested in the function of a space dedicated to stories and symbology; a physical manifestation of shared narratives.

Importantly, this work will be made in close collaboration with my 7-year-old son Miro. The stories, figures and symbols that congregate within our ‘shrine’ will be of our own imagining, activated through the process of play. This process was suggested by the Festival theme: ‘Happily Ever After’, a phrase that traditionally and universally concludes a children's story, evoking the arc of a simple narrative and the recitation of folklore.